In line with federal government directive, the implementation of mandatory usage of the National Identification Number (NIN) takes effect on January 1, 2019, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced.
At its meeting on September 12, 2018 chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the new National Digital Identity Ecosystem Strategic Roadmap for the enrolment of Nigerians and legal residents into the National Identity Database (NIDB).
By that federal directive, therefore, the usage of the NIN becomes mandatory, from January 1, 2019 to access any government service across the country.
This brings into effect the immediate commencement of the implementation of the strategic roadmap for the new Digital Identity Ecosystem as approved by the Federal Government.

According to Engr. Aliyu Aziz, Director-General of NIMC, all federal government Ministries, Agencies and Departments that take records of personnel/provide services requiring the identification of a person, shall from January 1, 2019 mandatorily demand the NIN from citizens to offer any of such services.
Ministries and Agencies such as Education, Aviation, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, National Population Commission, National Independent Electoral Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Communications Commission, National Health Insurance Scheme, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Nigeria Police Force, Security and Exchange Commission etc. must request and verify the NIN as already adopted by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Road Safety Commission and the National Pension Commission.

Eight persons have been reported dead after a road crash which occurred at Ore, in Odigbo local government area of Ondo State.

The deceased, who were said to be transiting through the state, were burnt to death in the lone accident.
The accident occurred on the popular Oluwa Bridge at Ore.
It was said to have been caused when the tyre of the Toyota Hiace bus in which the deceased were traveling in caught fire.
Confirming the accident, the Head of Operations, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Ondo State Sector command, Segun Ogungbemide said the vehicle’s tyre got damaged before it went up in flames while on top speed.
Ogungbemide revealed that eight passengers in the bus were burnt to death in the accident and that their bodies have been deposited in the morgue.

The Kaduna State Police Command on Monday confirmed gunmen attack on Katura village in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state where four persons were killed.

The Command’s spokesman, DSP Yakubu Sabo told one of our correspondents on the telephone that the command received a distress call at about 02:45am and immediately mobilised to the affected community as ordered by the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Abdurahman.

“We(command)received a distress call at about 02:45am early hours of today(Monday) that there was an attack by unknown gunmen who invaded the Katura village and starting shooting indiscriminately and in the process four persons were killed and three injured.”

He said the police commissioner also directed the Federal SARS and anti-riot police of the command to search the affected community with a view to fishing out the culprits.

He added that the operations were still ongoing as of the time of filing this report.

Though, the police said four persons were killed and three injured in the Sunday attack, a source said seven persons were injured.

The seven persons according to a source, have since been taken to the hospital and were currently receiving medical attention

The gunmen reportedly attacked the village at about 8.00pm on Sunday where they opened fire on residents said to be celebrating the new year.

The attack, it was gathered, came hours after the state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, had a town hall meeting with the people of Kasuwan Magani on Sunday, where he appealed to the people of the area to continue to live in peace with each other.

Kasuwan Magani in the same council had in October was embroiled in a communal clash which claimed several lives which led to state placing a 24-hour curfew on the town.

West Ham have announced the signing of midfielder Samir Nasri on the day he completes a doping ban.

The 31-year-old had been out of work since 31st January, when he left Turkish club Antalyaspor.

MySportDab report Nasri has now signed a deal until the end of the season with West Ham.

"You choose a club and a project because of the ambition, and I think that West Ham has everything to be one of the biggest clubs in London, for sure. I mean, 60,000 people every game at home. We play in the Olympic Stadium," said Nasri.

"Coming back to the most competitive league in the world, witha team full of ambition with a manager that I know.

"It's the best job in the world, and I'm really excited about it."

Coach Manuel Pellegrini told West Ham's official website: "I am happy to be working with him again.

"He has been working very hard in recent weeks to build up his fitness and condition after a long period without playing, and he is now very determined to return to his best."

A truck carrying diesel just ran into vehicles along the Gbagada - Iyana Oworo bridge crushing five cars.According to an eyewitness, no one died but several people were injured.LASTMA officials who are now on ground confirmed the accident saying, 'there's a multiple accident involving a loaded tanker and 5 vehicles at the descend of bridge and recovery work is on-going at the moment'.

David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido allegedly slapped Kizz Daniel’s manager, Oluwatumininu Lawrence, during his show on Thursday.Lawrence on his Twitter handle, bashed Davido, over what he termed “fake love.” He also shamed those, who he said witnessed the assault and did nothing. They were Davido’s manager, Asa Asika and Bizzle Osikoya.While he refused to share details of what transpired at Davido’s show, other Twitter users had no such restraint.Twitter users revealed that the assault happened when Davido and his crew came backstage, where Lawrence was trying to find out when his artiste, Kizz Daniel was going to perform.

Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, has blamed his defence and officiating, for their 5-1 loss to Liverpool on Saturday.
The Gunners took the lead in the 11th minute, after Ainsley Maitland-Niles converted Alex Iwobi’s cross.
Arsenal’s goal sparked the hosts into life, as they took the lead within five minutes, through a Roberto Firmino brace
Sadio Mane connected with Mohammed Salah’s touch-down to make it 3-1, before Salah converted from the spot in added time of the first half.

Firmino rounded off scoring in the 65th minute from the penalty spot.
“In the second half we needed to stand up, to keep our position individually and collectively on the game.
“The two last goals, two penalties, it’s a lot for us.
“VAR is important – it’s coming next year, because it’s going to help the referees to take better decisions,” he told BBC.
On the better performances within his squad, Emery singled out Maitland-Niles and Alex Iwobi for praise.
“There were some positives, Ainsley played as right winger and scored. Iwobi, after some matches not playing very well, today he played 90minutes with a good performance. But defensively we need to be stronger, to work.
“Our defensive moments in our box, it’s my responsibility,” he added.

The much anticipated 2018 edition of the NativeLand festival went down on Friday night, December 28, 2018 at its traditional home of the Muri Okunola Park, Lagos.

The festival which is in its third year is put together by lifestyle platform, Native Magazine to cater to a number of its teeming followers.

As customary, the concert attracted a large crowd mostly made up of teenagers, young adults who recently returned home for the holidays or IJGBs as they are called with a number of attractions from well lit photo booths, vendor stands and colourful festival gears .

Hence, it was obvious to see the near unmatched excitement and energy all through the night.

This year's edition was an exhibition of some of the finest artists in the land from the rising stars to the much established names with headline performances from the likes of Skepta, D'banj, Mayorkun and Teni with Wizkidmaking a cameo appearance.

Previously advertised headliner Burna Boy was a no-show but that did not in anyway affect what was a spectacular and thrilling concert on the night.

The opening performances witnessed a number of Nigerian and UK based talents with the likes of Odunsi The Engine who received an ecstatic response from the crowd as he performed some of his notable singles off the recent album ''rare.'', Santi who sent the crowd wild with his energetic rendering of 'Rapid Fire', PrettyBoy D-O who performed 'Chop Elbow', 'Terminate' and 'Footwork', DRB, Lady Donli, Wani, Kida Kudz, Aylo, Zamir, SV, Lord Issac, Moblanta, Straffiti, Dap The Contract and more all strutting their stuff.

Like a gathering storm, the arena which was constantly hyped by host, Finesse and DJ Bristar soon began to rumble as the next set of prominent hit makers began to take to the stage starting with the Omo Alhaji, Ycee who had the crowd singing to 'Juice.'

Then it was upto Teni to raise the decibels even higher with 'Askamaya' and 'Case' connecting with the crowd with her engaging but brief performance.

Actress Tasha from popular series, Power, who was visiting the country for the first time made a cameo appearance on stage, while UK based rapper, Suspectalso had his time on the stage.

UK Grime legend, Skepta, who has become a familiar feature at the NativeLand concerts took to the stage to screams from the excited crowd and when he brought out Wizkid during his performance of 'Energy', the entire arena went into an overdrive.

The organizers had promised a surprise guest on the night and very few comes bigger than D'Banj and his set provided the biggest highlight on the night. Running through a number of his hit songs like 'Fall In Love', 'Issa Banger', 'Give It To Me', 'Emergency' and 'Oliver Twist', by the time he was done, it was a total shutdown as the crowd danced and screamed uncontrollably.

There was still enough time for singer EO to perform his hit single, 'German' before Mayorkun's closing set which featured a number of his favorite anthems brought the night to a deserved end.

The organizers later announced that Burna Boy was unable to make the concert due to illness with the disappointed but thrilled crowd bidding the night goodbye.

The 2018 edition of the NativeLand concert again was a showcase of the influence of Afrobeats on the UK scene and the emergence of a new pool of young audience who are loyal to this emerging sound and on the night, it delivered an atmosphere of robust fun, energetic sets and awesome vibes.

The Federal Government has said that talks with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have so far been fruitful, expressing optimism that the ongoing strike by the university teachers, will soon be called off.
According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, this is predicated on the FG’s consideration of some of ASUU’s demands, including the submission of the union’s list of outstanding payments, and the identification of some areas in the universities in need of revitalisation as contained in the signed 2009 agreement.
Ngige said: “There are areas that are still outstanding which we are going to address on the 17th. We have the issue of shortfall of salaries, that of some federal university workers. ASUU has given a list to the office of the Accountant General.
“We agreed that by Wednesday that the list will be checked to find out really whether those universities were actually paid and they have to be visited and paid the outstanding lecturers there. So, the Accountant General’s office is to come back to us.
“We have also the issue of Earned Academic Allowance and the issue of revitalisation. These are issues of 2009 agreement. We will look into the consideration and we have identified one area of the fund for revitalisation.
“The federal government organs will be contacted and we do expect that we will have some words for ASUU. Same goes for the earned allowances. We will make sure that the issue of the outstanding amounts is handled in a way that all parties will be properly accommodated,” he said.
Ngige revealed that during the talks, the quality of graduates from state-owned universities was brought to focus, with a view to upgrading the standard of education in order to meet with global standards.
“We also discussed the issue of state universities and since education is on concurrent list, the universities should be properly funded and staffed, so that we do not produce half baked graduates from those universities. And towards realising that, the ministry of education will engage the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. The minister of education is taking steps towards that direction and will organise that interaction.
“Engaging them directly and giving professional advice is what the ministry will do. These are some of the issues we discussed and to me; the discussions were fruitful. We want the children to go back to school,” he added.

Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the Italian Serie A football match Juventus vs Sampdoria on December 29, 2018 at the Juventus stadium in Turin. PHOTO: Marco BERTORELLO / AFPCristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace as Italian champions Juventus finished 2018 on a high with a 2-1 win over Sampdoria giving the Italian champions a new record of 53 points before the winter break.Ronaldo curled in the opener after just two minutes in Turin adding a second from the penalty spot after 66 minutes, putting the Portuguese top of Serie A’s scoring charts with 14 goals.Fabio Quagliarella pulled Sampdoria level with a penalty after 33 minutes, with the visitors having a late Riccardo Saponara goal ruled offside after consultation with the video assistant referee.Juventus open up a 12-point lead at the top of Serie A ahead of Napoli who can reduce the gap when they host Bologna later on Saturday.The seven-time reigning champions also have a record number of points before the three-week winter break with 53 from 19 games.“The team is doing very well, we had an excellent first half to the season, now we have to keep working to ensure we keep this form in the second half of the season,” Ronaldo told Sky Sports Italia.“I like VAR because these are difficult decisions for a referee and we should welcome anything that makes his job easier.”The reigning champions have dropped points just twice this season, being held by Genoa at home and 2-2 against Atalanta midweek, and are firmly on track for an eighth consecutive Scudetto.Ronaldo had come off the bench to score in Bergamo but returned to the starting line along with Miralem Pjanic.And the Portuguese striker found a way through early picking up a Paulo Dybala cross to fire in past Sampdoria goalkeeper Emil Audero.But Sampdoria pulled level following a penalty awarded when Emre Can handball with Quagliarella making no mistake past Mattia Perin in the Juventus goal.The 35-year-old became the first player to score in nine consecutive Serie A games since David Trezeguet for Juventus in 2005.Audero denied Dybala before the break with Mario Mandzukic missing a chance to finish off a Ronaldo cross.The Sampdoria goalkeeper again deflected over a Ronaldo header on the hour but the hosts went ahead when the referee awarded a penalty for an Alex Ferrari handball off a corner after a VAR viewing.Substitute Saponara looked to have grabbed a point in injury time but VAR ruled he was in an offside position and the goal was disallowed as Sampdoria stay fifth two points behind Lazio who occupy the final Champions League spot.Inter Milan, in third, travel to Tuscany side Empoli later on Saturday without their fans after racism and violence overshadowed Christmas football in the Italian league.

Davido has taken to his Instagram page to speak on his recently held concert in Lagos state, saying people wanted to see him fail.

The award-winning singer shared some details surrounding his recently held concert, Davido Live in Concert.

He talked about the issues concerning the venue change and may have subtly touched on the controversy with Kizz Daniel’s manager. See what he wrote below;

We only had 12 days to sell tickets and put this Show together! They tried to block me from all avenues !! Left, right and center !! People wanted to see David Fail!

When I came in this industry about 8 years ago at just 17 all I wanted was my video to be played on TV even if it’s only once! From the first time, my first video ‘Back When’ ever played on television till now I haven’t failed!

Don’t get me wrong we’ve cut it close so many times but God always finds a way to save me!. What haven’t they said about David ?? Ehn ?? 6 days before the show they made us switch the venue from Oceanview Grounds to Eko Atlantic

after plenty of preparation and flyers, billboards TV and radio ads, everything! 4 days before this show I was sued by someone (won’t say who) trying to stop my show just because I wouldn’t work with them anymore and wanted to try and do the show by myself. After spending millions!

They said the name ‘City of Davido’ is their idea and because of that I shouldn’t do any show with my own name on the 27th of December. I said Bleep a distraction. How much will it cost to change the name on everything?! Do I have that? Yes! We MOVE!

I changed the name from ‘City of Davido’ to ‘DAVIDO live in concert’. Printed thousands of new tickets! Hundreds of new billboard banners ! LED boards ALL! They STILL went to court 2 days to showday to try and stop the show!! But my God is bigger than them! We beat that poo!

My joy is never to just see myself win but to see other people win. Put people on, put smiles on the faces.. that’s my own joy! Every time I WIN they act like they are blind ! If it’s the other way round Dem go open their Okponu eye like fowl!

WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS which I have always done !!! Thank you to all the artists and performers that came through for me and everyone that helped me put this show together!

Thank you to my lawyer, my manager my ever supportive Father and God! In just days we sold the Bleep out ! Over sold sef !!

The National Identity Management Commission has said that over 300,000 national identity cards for those who enrolled in 2012 are ready for collection.NIMC Spokesman, Loveday Ogbonna, urged enrollees in the year 2012, up to August 2013 and who were yet to pick up their cards, to do so immediately.

Ogbonna said that those concerned should visit the enrolment centres where they registered and pick up their cards, which had since been printed and ready for collection.

He said that the commission had pasted names of enrollees whose cards had been printed and awaiting collection at various centres, to enable such individuals check and present themselves for card collection.

According to him, some of the people in this category may have changed the phone numbers they used to register, hence they are not able to receive text messages informing them that their cards are ready.

“Applicants who have relocated and want their cards transferred to their current location should visit any NIMC office closest to them to request for a card transfer form.

“They should fill and submit the form to the State Coordinator or Local Government Supervisor for processing.

“This is possible for those who either received text message or confirmed via the list posted at the enrolment centres that their cards are ready for collection. This service is free for now and available at all enrolment centres,” he said.

Ogbonna said that the transfer process was necessitated by a survey carried out by the Customer Care Unit of the commission.

He said that the survey showed that over 300,000 enrolled applicants nationwide were yet to pick up their National e-ID cards.

Ogbonna said that the reasons were because they had either relocated from the locations where they enrolled or had changed the phone numbers they provided at the point of enrolment into the National Identity Database.

“Thousands of registered applicants have changed the phone numbers they provided at the point of registration, and as such, may not have received our card collection notifications, while some persons may have changed location since after enrolment.

”We want to use this medium to appeal to any of such persons to visit any NIMC Enrolment Centre close to them to request for Card transfer,” the NIMC said in a statement.

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, social media is the forms of electronic communication (such as websites) through which people create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages among others.

Particularly, this post is directed towards our relationship with others and our personal human nature. No doubt, the importance of social media cannot be over stressed from business, job opportunities, ideas and lots more. However, this post brings to you five things social media is doing to is without being oblivious about them.

So now, relax on your sofa or anything comfortable for you, get a cookie or popcorn and a bottle of cold drink as you surf through the points. Happy moments!

SPACING BETWEEN PEOPLE: yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you'll begin to wonder the oxymoron here comparing the advantages of SM to this point. It is worthy to note that, the relationship with different people varies depending on how close we are or more interaction we engage in. The cold truth is most times we replace SM with giving people a phonecall, visiting them or even texting them via their mobile line. You may not totally subscribe to this opinion but chats can't fully replace these things with the exception of video call to some extent.

Even if you communicate regularly via chats, calling them at a frequency that is determined by your closeness is very germane just like visiting as the same reason above. Quite a number of people at least the little that I know rely basically on SM to send a good number of their messages and even the important ones like anniversary, birthday, wedding, and a variety of congratulatory messages only via SM. Also, like I said, this may be a function of how close we are to the person in question.

Now I can read your mind trying to weigh yourself on this, I wish you ease as you try to adjust.

MASKING WITH EMOJIS: oh I know what's coming to your mind right away. The favourite emoji you use to either ignore, engage, or show your mood. I also have my favourite ones too but I'll keep that for now. You know what?, Emojis can be deceiving in some cases. The kind of emoji used by people may not necessarily display their mood in reality. Just like in communication, verbal and nonverbal expression needs to be connected to a large extent.

Even with depression affecting a quite number of people these days, they tend to use some of this for cover up which may worsen matters except people see and relate with them often to know what they are going through and help them out. However, there are times when the usage is genuine.

FAKING CONFIDENCE: Do you remember the..., well I'd say quite popular Maclean's advert with the mantra "I got my confidence back". A number of people may show confidence via SM with the way they text but in reality they are as timid as a snail (but wait, is a snail actually timid?) Now the question is whose fault is it? They have seen SM as a new world which is virtual and forgotten the actual one they live in which is the real. This kind of people are referred to as textrovert. Fine, some are naturally shy which is a good character and doesn't mean they are not confident. Those kind of people also exhibit it to a large extent on SM because it's their nature.

Also some individuals are garrulous on SM. They say almost anything, using the opportunity of not seeing the other person except in a video call. However in reality, they can't even near bit of their acrobatic texts, comments or posts on SM in speech. It sometimes gives people the opportunity to say things (positive/negative) to people they can't ordinarily tell when they see. So, If you have been speaking confidently on SM, don't end it there, take it to the real world too.

PRIVACY UNBOXED: there are quite a number of people that their entire life is a function of SM. Every single moment of their life will be captioned there even if they just met with their spouses (and this is not based on assumption). This no doubt must have been seen or observed in some of our friends, celebrities amongst other categories. Our whole life should not be a national news that should be read like punch newspaper where people know every now and then, actions and inactions, success and failures about us amongst others.

Don't get this twisted, I am a fan of you celebrating yourself when you achieve a feat but my point here is making the SM a full glimpse into every part of our lives. In case you forgot, according to my faith, there are evil eyes which are real and one's life may be in jeopardy by their actions, so hold tight to what ever you believe in. I am not trying to be fetish here but the reality of life.

TIME FUNERAL: Whether we accept it or not, there is quite number if minutes to hours we spend in SM everyday for various things depending on individual and what we do. This is particularly a problem for those that are not disciplined. However there are some whose daily work demands their presence on SM almost every time and in return, they make money from it as well. For some, they use it to add value to others, improving their lives amongst other positive things. But for those who do not fall into this category, we need to be conscious about our time spent on SM depending on our personal schedule.

As much as one can get involved with reasonable discussion and trends, one can also get entwined with those that are obnoxious.

Dear readers and friends, I hope these points are worth noting and have in a way impacted. Do have a lovely SM interaction and leave us a comment as desired.

We’ve hit the midpoint of the Premier League season, and now everyone has played everyone at least once. Liverpool have obviously been the big winners thus far having made it through half of the season unbeaten, and that kind of dominance has bled into the Fantasy world as well.
In fact, four of the 11 best players at this stage come from Jurgen Klopp’s side, who boast the points leaders at three different positions in our game. You can find those three individuals and the rest of our Goal Team of the (Half) Season below.

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GK: Alisson - Liverpool - 19 Games, 45 Saves, 7 Goals Conceded, 12 Clean Sheets = 109 Points
DEF: Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool - 19 Games, 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 7 Goals Conceded, 12 Clean Sheets = 104 Points
The Liverpool defender may well be the best defender in the league and his Fantasy performances are continuing to reflect that. Since the Dutchman joined the club, Liverpool’s defence has improved drastically having kept more clean sheets than any other club (21) over that period.
Now, in 2018/19, van Dijk has already been involved in as many goals (three) as he ever has in a full Premier League season, propelling him to the top of the heap among defenders in the Goal game.
DEF: Andrew Robertson - Liverpool - 17 Games, 4 Assists, 5 Goals Conceded, 12 Clean Sheets = 101 Points

DEF: Marcos Alonso - Chelsea - 19 Games, 1 Goal, 7 Assists, 16 Goals Conceded, 8 Clean Sheets = 90 Points
MID: Mohamed Salah - Liverpool - 18 Games, 12 Goals, 7 Assists = 130 Points
At the mid-point of the season, Mohamed Salah leads all players in points in our game. This has largely come off the back of his 12 goals which are the second-most in the league and, as a midfielder, the Egyptian gets an extra point for every one of them compared to forwards.

While it’s unlikely the Liverpool talisman will score 20 more times to meet last season’s total, he has already recorded more chances created (41) and assists (3) than he did at this stage in 2017/18. This versatility should ensure that Salah will remain an elite Fantasy option, even when the goals aren’t going in.
MID: Eden Hazard - Chelsea - 15 Games, 10 Goals, 9 Assists = 120 Points

MID: Raheem Sterling - Manchester City - 15 Games, 9 Goals, 7 Assists = 106 Points
Sterling’s form has dipped significantly of late, but he still makes this list easily as a top-three Fantasy midfielder. Owning the English international is not always a joyous experience though as he’s blanked in nearly as many weeks (9) as not (10).
Fortunately, in the Goal game, when Sterling does put up those poor performances you can always replace him with another player that is yet to play that week, so you can gamble on the upside of Sterling while providing yourself with an out if he disappoints. Or, for those of you that prefer to use him as a set-and-forget option, you can rest assured that, come the end of the season Sterling will likely be in our Team of the Year - again.
MID: Felipe Anderson - West Ham - 19 Games, 8 Goals, 3 Assists = 95 Points
FOR: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - Arsenal - 17 Games, 13 Goals, 4 Assists = 113 Points
Aubameyang only scored one goal in the first five matches of this season, yet here he sits with more goals (13) than any other Premier League player at the midway point. He heads the Arsenal attack which has created more assists than any club save for Manchester City, which should provide him with plenty more opportunities to score in the second half of the season.
Whether he will continue to finish those chances at the same rate remains to be seen as he’s currently significantly outperforming his expected goals, but that doesn’t make his accomplishments thus far any less significant.